


three words that became hard to say (i and love and you)

by overcomewithlongingfora_girl



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aftercare, Bottom Zuko (Avatar), But Like Very Little Plot, Domdrop, Emotions, Feels, Light Bondage, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Porn With Plot, Praise Kink, Safe Sane and Consensual, Sokka Just Wants Zuko To Feel Loved, Subdrop, Top Sokka (Avatar), Zuko Cannot Handle His Emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:20:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24829738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overcomewithlongingfora_girl/pseuds/overcomewithlongingfora_girl
Summary: It's only a few weeks in, but Sokka thinks he loves Zuko. Scratch that - he knows he loves Zuko already, and he doesn't think he can keep it quiet any longer. And if he's going to tell Zuko, he's going to make sure that Zuko hears him.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 93
Kudos: 1748





	three words that became hard to say (i and love and you)

It’s only been a few weeks. That’s what Sokka keeps telling himself. It’s only been a few weeks, and he can’t move that fast – he has to play it cool, take things slow, act like he doesn’t care.

Okay, maybe not that last part, because there are _way_ too many people in Zuko’s life acting like they don’t care. There are way too many people in Zuko’s life that actually just don’t care. Sokka isn’t going to fall in either camp, he knows that much. But he also can’t go falling head over heels for Zuko, even if he wants to. Even if he can’t help it. Even if he already has.

It’s just that he’s so easy to spoil. It’s just the way that his face lifts in that surprised-happy-lucky way when Sokka gives him almost anything – a touch on the cheek, a compliment after sparring, an absolutely awful carving of a bison. When they fall into bed together, they always move hard and fast and desperate, like they’re each afraid of losing the other, but no matter how good it feels, the best part is always after, when Zuko curls up next to him, soft and loose and warm, and Sokka can just, just _hold_ him like the delicate, precious thing he is.

So Sokka is already head over heels. So he spends his free time planning out elaborate little schemes to make the Fire Lord laugh or smile. It feels like all he wants in the world is to see the boy smile for real, release the tension from his shoulders, know and believe for _once in his life_ that he is good, and valued, and loved.

Yeah, fuck it, loved. Sokka _loves_ the Fire Lord, his fierce, short-tempered, guarded friend. He loves Zuko’s smile and his golden eyes and the way he looks when Sokka compliments him, surprised-squirmy-pleased, before he changes the subject and pretends it never happened. Sokka wants him to stop turning away from every kind word he hears. Sokka wants Zuko to hear that he’s loved, and know that he’s worthy, and feel that it’s true.

So Sokka, master planner, makes a plan.

They’re in bed, low torchlights burning, and Sokka knows exactly what he’s going to do. The Fire Lord, grinning up at him, has no idea. It’s just a regular night, when Sokka has trailed the little lord back to his bedchamber, and the two have made out for a solid ten minutes, and both of the hair-trigger boys are more than ready to go. Zuko’s surprised they’ve already waited this long. Sokka takes another second to feel his heart pounding in his chest. He can do this. He can say it. He can make Zuko feel it. This is it.

“Sokka. Sokka, come on _.”_ Zuko’s panting a little and smirking that little sideways grin. It’s going straight to Sokka’s cock. Still, Sokka’s not going to touch him yet. He’s been planning this for a while, and he’s not going to give in so easily…even though Zuko looks so perfect lying there…and all Sokka wants to do is put his mouth on that pale hot skin –

Okay. Okay no, no, stay here. Remember the plan.

The plan is to get Zuko to his bedroom, and strip him naked. So far, so good. Just that now, Zuko keeps reaching for Sokka’s face, for his cock through his clothes, and that’s not part of the plan. So Sokka retrieves the scarves from his pockets.

Zuko tips his head, confused. “What’s that for?”

In answer, Sokka takes one of Zuko’s hands, gently, and brings it up toward the bedpost. “This okay?”

Golden eyes go huge as Zuko puts the pieces together. He gulps, and Sokka watches the way his throat moves and wants so badly to put his mouth there. Tearing his eyes away, he looks expectantly to Zuko. “Yeah,” Zuko says, and his voice has gone from fake whiny to raspy and low, a victory that makes Sokka’s blood sing. “Yeah, that’s, um, that’s good.”

They’re red scarves, of course, because it’s the Fire Nation, and silk, because Sokka’s not going to use anything rough on Zuko’s skin. “Try ‘em,” Sokka instructs softly, and Zuko tests the bonds, tugging lightly, and then harder. Sokka watches carefully – he tested the ties on his own arms, trying to make sure they wouldn’t pinch, but he’s so afraid he’ll somehow hurt Zuko.

But when he looks at the other man’s face, it’s not pain that he sees. The knots don’t give, and Zuko looks back at Sokka and swallows again. “Good.” It’s almost a whisper.

Sokka leans down and kisses Zuko, feeling the Fire Lord’s shoulders bunch as he tries to reach for Sokka. He huffs a surprised laugh into Sokka’s mouth as he remembers his bonds, and Sokka takes the opportunity to bite his lower lip, turning that laugh into a moan.

Zuko leans his head forward, as far as he can, chasing Sokka’s lips, but the warrior sits back on his heels, far out of Zuko’s reach. The Fire Lord grins, waiting for the next touch, the next kiss, still tugging experimentally on his bonds. The smile slips as Sokka remains motionless, hands at his sides, eyes moving over Zuko.

“Sokka?” Zuko wriggles under his gaze, flush coming up in his cheeks. “…Sokka?”

“You’re so fucking pretty.”

The pink just starting in Zuko’s cheeks flames into a blush. “Sokka,” he whines, twisting a little, “cut it out, c’mon, hurry up, let’s-”

He still thinks this is going to be fast and hard, their usual tumble that leaves them breathless and grinning and boneless. Not tonight. Tonight Sokka has other plans.

“No.” Sokka cradles Zuko’s left cheek in his hand, rubbing his thumb across the bone below his eye. Right over his scar. The Fire Lord is stunned into stillness, and Sokka leans down and kisses him there, right over his burnt cheekbone. “Not yet.”

Zuko’s chest is rising and falling fast. He looks up at Sokka mutely, waiting to understand the rules of this new game. “You’re so fucking pretty, Zuko.” There’s that pretty, pretty blush, Zuko biting his lip like a shy little kid. Sokka’s heart feels like it’s going to explode against his ribs. “God, I can’t believe I’m yours.”

“I’m _yours_.” The breathy whisper, the nervous vulnerable adoration in Zuko’s eyes – fuck, fuck, don’t get derailed now.

One hand still cupping Zuko’s cheek, Sokka uses his free fingers to smooth down Zuko’s hair, pressing kisses along his hairline. “Beautiful. You’re beautiful, baby-”

“ _You’re_ the beautiful one-”

Now Sokka kisses Zuko on the mouth, just once, hard and real and insistent. “Do you want me to gag you?” he asks softly when he pulls back. Zuko shakes his head. “Then let me do the talking, Fire Lord.”

Breathless and wide-eyed Zuko nods.

“Good boy,” Sokka purrs, and Zuko _whimpers._ The blush is spilling down his face, turning his cheeks bright red, and Sokka kisses him again, gentle as can be, on Zuko’s cheeks and on his scar. “That’s my good boy.”

“Sokka.” Zuko fairly croaks it, and there are tears starting in his lion eyes, but Sokka shushes him softly, sweetly, still running his hands through Zuko’s thick dark hair. He bends down, frames Zuko’s face, looks long into those big wet golden eyes.

“You’re so good for me,” Sokka repeats, just to watch the way those eyes flutter shut, the way Zuko’s breath stutters and stops as he tries to control himself. Sokka doesn’t want him to control himself. “Baby.” Shutting his eyes, Zuko moans, fingers fisting around the silk that binds his wrists. “You’re so perfect.”

Sokka’s hands trail down, down Zuko’s chest, and his mouth follows, pressing kisses to Zuko’s throat, his collarbone, the place where his neck becomes his chest. “Pretty boy. Look at you. Look at you, Zuko. Tui and La, just look at you.”

Under him, Zuko twists impatiently, impotently, hands still tied up above his head. Unbothered by his struggling, the little moans that keep escaping, Sokka takes his time. He licks and sucks and nips lightly at one nipple, then the other, before he trails down Zuko’s belly and stops right before reaching his straining, upright cock. There, Sokka pauses, and Zuko fairly wails with impatience. “Ask for what you want, Zuko,” Sokka tells the Fire Lord softly, and Zuko shakes his head hard.

“You-you know what I want.”

Shaking his head, Sokka focuses on uncapping the vial of oil they keep by the bed, slicking his hands. “Ask for what you want, sweetheart.”

The name brings out the soft flush in Zuko’s cheeks, pink mottling his pale skin. “P-please t-touch my cock,” he says, sounding somehow almost shy. Looking him straight in the eye, Sokka takes Zuko’s cock in his oil-slick palm and does one long, slow pull. It’s like the Fire Lord’s been electrified – his back arches off the bed, a true, keening wail erupts from his lips.

“Like that?”

“Y-yes, Sokka, _more.”_

Another long, slow pull that leaves Zuko gasping, panting, hauling mindlessly on his restraints. “Come _on_ Sokka, _please.”_

“You’re gorgeous like this,” Sokka says softly, as his hand moves slowly, steadily, and there are tears starting in the Fire Lord’s eyes now. “You’re gorgeous right now. You’re gorgeous.”

“Sokka,” he pants, “Sokka, Sokka, I want-”

Sokka leans forward, kisses him again, gentle and reassuring, his hand working the whole time. As soon as Zuko bucks into the weight of his body, Sokka pulls back, and Zuko whines. “I want...I want…hurry _up,”_ he gasps, as Sokka’s hand moves at that same steady pace.

Instead, Sokka leans down, and presses his tongue against the underside of Zuko’s cock in a long, slow lick. The Fire Lord yells, his whole body flexing with the tension. Another lick, and he’s calmed just a little, although his breath is still heaving in and out and Sokka knows his heart is going like mad inside his chest.

Somehow, Sokka stays calm, stays steady. He takes Zuko into his mouth, all the way down to the back of his throat, and the Fire Lord gasps like a fish. When Sokka hollows his cheeks, he feels the bed shake as Zuko pulls on his restraints.

When Sokka sucks Zuko’s cock it’s just as slow and deliberate as jerking him off, every move designed to bring him to the edge and keep him there without ever letting him crash over the other side. While his mouth work on Zuko’s cock, Sokka works his oil-slick fingers into the Fire Lord’s ass, and when he finds Zuko’s prostate, there’s a minute where he thinks he might’ve gone too far, because Zuko _howls_ with the electricity of Sokka’s touch, of Sokka’s mouth, of the stretch and the warm wet heat, the overwhelmingly vulnerable feeling of being laid out flat and pinned against the bed.

And then Sokka pulls back, and Zuko falls agonizingly down from the peak, and the Fire Lord looks up at Sokka, disheveled and teary and eyes half-wild, and growls, _“fucking get inside me already,”_ and Sokka can’t wait anymore.

It takes every muscle in Sokka’s body to sink in gentle and slow. It doesn’t help that Zuko’s rocking against him, catching his breath with every inch, babbling, _begging for it._ Sokka doesn’t relent, moves careful and slow and steady into that crushing heat, until he’s bottomed out against Zuko and looking down at the desperate, writhing Fire Lord. Once again, he stops, and Zuko screams from the frustration, before Sokka swoops down and kisses him hard, nipping down his throat, his jaw, pulling Zuko’s hair just enough to make the Fire Lord _gasp –_

“You’re precious, you know that?” Sokka knows what his voice sounds like – not his own. It’s low, and almost harsh, and it makes Zuko _whine_ and blush and squirm in his restraints, as if he can hide from the way Sokka’s voice makes him feel. He turns his head into the pillow, but Sokka just keeps talking. “You’re so fucking precious to me. You know that, baby?” He cups Zuko’s cheek in his hand, brings his face back around so they can look each other in the eye. “You know that?”

“Yes,” Zuko whispers, and the tears are spilling for real now. “Y-yes, now – now fucking _move,_ you idiot, fuck me, fuck me into next _week-”_

One long, rolling snap of his hips leaves Zuko utterly breathless again, and Sokka leans in to mouth his jaw once more, to hiss into his ear. “I adore you, Zuko.” He pulls back to see the wild, almost frightened look in the Fire Lord’s eyes. “I adore you.”

“Sokka – _Sokka-”_

The piercing, plaintive note in Zuko’s voice – there’s no more time for talking. Taking Zuko’s cock in his hand once more, Sokka starts a slow, insistent rhythm that has Zuko’s eyes rolling back in his head. With his free hand Sokka reaches up for that beautiful black hair, pulls his head back just a little, and kisses Zuko’s face, his jaw, the hollow behind his ear.

“S-Sokka, I’m gonna – I’m gonna-”

“That’s it, baby,” Sokka croons, fighting to keep his breath, keep his rhythm as Zuko’s breath stutters to a stop, as every muscle in his body seems to clench and quake. “That’s it, that’s my good boy, uh huh, baby, just like that.”

Zuko comes with a cry that sounds like it’s been pulled out of him, and Sokka fucks him steady through it, through both their orgasms, only pulling out when they’re both sweaty and sticky and breathless. Dazed, triumphant, he looks down at his boyfriend, his baby, all messy and teary and utterly _wrecked –_

“Hands.” Zuko pulls hard on his restraints, and Sokka feels a chill of fear run through him. “ _Hands!”_

Sokka planned for this – all it takes is a few quick moves with the knife he placed on the dresser, and the scarves lie in tatters on the mattress. The water tribe warrior isn’t sure what he expected, maybe a panic attack, or a shutdown, or some other horrible consequence of a breach of trust, but instead the moment his hands are free Zuko _throws_ himself at Sokka, knocking the knife entirely out of his hand, grabbing for Sokka like a drowning man.

“Hey, _hey.”_ Sokka smooths a firm hand down Zuko’s back, wrapping both arms securely around the shaking, crying boy. “I’m right here. I’m right here.”

 _“Sokka-”_ The pleading note in Zuko’s voice brings tears to Sokka’s eyes.

“I’m right here!” Now Sokka’s a little frantic, not knowing what’s going on, not knowing what he did wrong. “I-I’m right here, Zuko, I love you, I, I’m sorry-”

“No!” If it were possible for Zuko’s arms to tighten around Sokka, they would. As is, all he can do is bury his face harder into the crook of Sokka’s neck. “ _No_ sorry I – I just – I love you, I love you, I love you, Sokka, _Sokka-”_

“Oh,” Sokka breathes, voice breaking a little on the word, “oh, Zuko, c’mere, just…” he lays Zuko down gently, back down on the mattress, going with him so he’s draped right over his boyfriend’s body. Little by little, with the weight and the heat on top of him, the shaking goes out of Zuko’s body. For minutes, they’re quiet like that, Sokka on top of Zuko, with Sokka kissing Zuko’s shoulder and running his fingers through Zuko’s sweaty hair, while Zuko just sniffles and breathes and weeps into the crook of Sokka’s neck.

“I’m sorry,” the Fire Lord finally mumbles, still pressed so tight against Sokka’s skin that his lips catch and muffle. “I-I’m sorry I freaked out like that I, I don’t know what happened-”

“Shhhh. Nothing to apologize for.” Sokka presses another kiss to Zuko’s shoulder and feels fresh, hot tears against his neck.

“Sokka, I _love_ you.” The words come out raw and desperate and broken, and the twinge in Sokka’s chest takes his breath away. Somehow, it’s a good feeling.

“I know, baby.” The name makes Zuko squeak. “I love you too.”

Face screwing up, Zuko nods into Sokka’s neck. The water tribe warriors pulls back, just a little, to look at Zuko’s red and teary face. Moving his hands up, Sokka cradles Zuko’s face in his hands, brushing tears away with his thumbs. Zuko has this stunned, vulnerable look in his eyes, and Sokka can’t resist leaning forward to kiss him, gently. When he pulls back there are even more tears, gathering, and Sokka tips his head to the side.

“C’mon, honey, what’s wrong?”

“I just – I just-” Zuko sniffles, squeezes his eyes against the coming storm. “It just feels like…too much.”

The love that roars up in Sokka’s chest is hard and possessive. “It’s what you deserve, Zuko,” he says firmly, and he doesn’t back down when Zuko shakes his head. “It’s what you deserve. Fuck, Zuko, I’d, I’d do anything for you. I love you, Zuko. I love you so much.” The firebender is crying again. Sokka doesn’t care. “I want to give you everything,” he says softly, running his hands over Zuko’s face, murmuring the words right into Zuko’s ear. “I want to…I just want you to understand.” He brushes another tear off Zuko’s cheek. “Understand what you are. To me. How I see you. How beautiful you are. How good.”

He’s babbling, and Zuko finally stops him with a finger to his lips. “I…can’t.” He laughs, just a little, blowing all the air from his lungs. “I…I feel like I’m going to fall apart, Sokka, I can’t…” He sucks in a deep breath. “I just love you. I just…I just love you.”

“I just love you too.”

“Yeah.” A little smile grows across Zuko’s face, and Sokka’s heart lifts _painfully_ inside his chest. “You do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well...that just happened. I blame all the Zukka fanfic I read yesterday - EVERYONE should check out lesbianophelia and Haicrescendo, for a start, because damn. 
> 
> As always I live for comments! Hope you guys enjoyed :)
> 
> If you want to talk or have any ideas or requests for new fics, I am always looking, and would love to chat with you on tumblr at overcomewithlongingfora-girl !


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